A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits―Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More
A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits―Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More book cover

A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits―Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More

Hardcover – November 5, 2019

by
Price
$16.90
Format
Hardcover
Pages
384
Publisher
Chicago Review Press
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1641602556
Dimensions
6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
Weight
1.7 pounds

Description

"Paul Hirsch, a master of his craft, has written an intelligent, perceptive, compelling memoir of his editing life, from the late '60sxa0through today. From the heights of Star Wars to the depths of Pluto Nash , if you want to know how the sausage is cut, this is the book for you. I should know, I was with him in the beginning and through our misadventure to Mars. Congratulations, Paul, for remembering all the things we forgot." —Brian De Palma "It shouldn’t be surprising that a great storyteller can tell great stories. From the man in the (cutting) room where it happenedxa0on many of our favorite filmsxa0comes a glorious piece of work that makes you feel that you were there yourself. How do I feel about this book? Not ‘ipsy-pipsy.’ If you want to decipher that, read it!" — J.J. Abrams "Paul’s written a terrificxa0expert’s view of the editing process, which I believe will be an important technical and historical narrative for future filmmakers and film lovers." — Taylor Hackford "Storyteller and showman, film editor Paul Hirsch narrates the ups and downs of his fifty-year career on the jungle gym of cinema with fascinating inside-the-boiler-room tales of how classic hits and flops were constructed—and deconstructed. Jaw-dropping tales of working with George Lucas on Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and on eleven Brian De Palma films ( Carrie , Phantom of the Paradise , etc.). Paul's invaluable tips and insights, hard won through experience, will brilliantly illuminate the creative process for aspiring filmmakers and enthusiasts alike." — Walter Murch "For its sheer excellence, diversity, and cultural impact, Paul Hirsch's filmography speaks for itself. They say a film is made in the editing room, and this book is easily the most comprehensive, revelatory, and illuminating account of this essential cinematic art. A must-read for both the casual moviegoer and the serious cinephile alike." — Mark Hamill "Veteran Hollywood film editor Hirsch's memoir overflows with fascinating insights and anecdotes" — Publishers Weekly "The stories and insights from a veteran editor will appeal to cinephiles and anyone looking to learn more about the craft." — Booklist "Mr. Hirsch paints a vivid picture of the crucial work done by film editors."— Wall Street Journal "a treasure...Hirsch takes readers on a journey through his extraordinary career with a writing style that is clear, entertaining, and rollicking."— American Cinema Editors (ACE) Magazine Paulxa0Hirsch received the Academy Award for his editing work on Star Wars in 1978. In 2005, he received his second Academy Award nomination for Taylor Hackford’s Ray . He is the only person to ever win the Saturn Award for best editing twice. In 2017 he was given the special Award to Editor with Unique Visual Sensitivity by the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, Camerimage. He lives in Los Angeles.

Features & Highlights

  • A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away
  • provides a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most influential films of the last fifty years as seen through the eyes of Paul Hirsch, the Oscar-winning film editor who worked on such classics as George Lucas’s
  • Star Wars
  • and
  • The Empire Strikes Back
  • , Brian De Palma’s
  • Carrie
  • and
  • Mission: Impossible
  • , Herbert Ross’s
  • Footloose
  • and
  • Steel Magnolias
  • , John Hughes’s
  • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  • and
  • Planes, Trains & Automobiles
  • , Joel Schumacher’s
  • Falling Down
  • , and Taylor Hackford’s
  • Ray
  • . Hirsch breaks down his career movie by movie, offering a riveting look at the decisions that went into creating some of cinema’s most iconic scenes. He also provides behind-the-scenes insight into casting, directing, and scoring and intimate portraits of directors, producers, composers, and stars. Part film school primer, part paean to legendary filmmakers and professionals, this funny and insightful book will entertain and inform aficionados and casual moviegoers alike.

Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Reviews

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Wonderful memoir of a life editing Hollywood films

I've read a lot of books on the movies, but I can't recall reading one as enjoyable of Paul Hirsch's memoir of his life as a film editor. Hirsch worked as the principal editor on a number of great--Star Wars, Mission Impossible--and not so great--The Adventures of Pluto Nash--films over a career that has lasted 50 years and counting.

The book is filled with anecdotes about some of Hollywood's greatest stars (get on Tom Cruise's good side and you'll receive a cocoanut cake every Christmas) and directors (George Lucas seems like a good guy; Francis Ford Coppola, not so much). You also get a quick education in how films used to be edited in pre-digital days and how they are edited today.

Hirsch writes very well and the book zips along. He seems like a modest guy and is careful to relate his gratitude to the many people who helped him or treated him well along the way. The backstabbing and credit-hogging that dominate Hollywood in some accounts are mostly absent here.

If you have an interest in the movie business or in how movies are assembled into finished products, you'll undoubtedly enjoy this book.
16 people found this helpful
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Realistic and fascinating look behind-the-scenes

There are a few books on editing that really describe what it’s like to be a working feature film editor, and this is one of them. Hirsch starts with a brilliant introduction on what the “invisible” art of editing actually is, then describes his steady rise in post production from film to film. He recounts behind-the-scenes stories about cutting and re-cutting some of our most beloved popular films (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Trains Plains and Automobiles) and shares the equally important story of his close collaboration with directors and composers, providing frame-accurate details of key decisions made inside the cutting room. There are many thrilling examples of a story honed and saved in editing, sometimes by restructuring, other times through diligent and patient hard work.
As we travel the timeline of his career, he also explains what editing on film was like before the days of computers, where the technical limitations required great craft and ingenuity. He also presents the challenging political environment of the editing room: where the editor’s intellectual, intuitive and creative ideas must be presented with great diplomacy. Hirsch is also well-versed in music and gives specific examples of his early choices to show how editors use temporary music to support the film in progress and to influence the composer. Reading the scope of his life story also shows a realistic portrait of the unstable and challenging freelance life, and the dedication required to travel on location with a family.
Editing is a constant process of trial and error- screening and listening to your audience, then re-cutting- and Hirsch shows you this challenging process throughout the brilliant triumphs and failures (Pluto Nash!) of his long and amazing career.
10 people found this helpful
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A must-have for cinephiles & Star Wars fans alike!

Paul Hirsch is one of Hollywood's unsung heroes (as most editors typically are). While producers, writers, and directors are typically the members of the production team that get the most glory, it's the editor that truly makes it all come together.

As a Star Wars fan I picked up this book for Paul's work on both the first Star Wars film and its sequel, 'The Empire Strikes Back'. As a filmmaker (and fellow editor) I was enthralled by his overall experience in the film industry over the years and his work on some of my other favorite films, 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles', and 'Falling Down'. But that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Paul's book is both insightful, informative, entertaining, and chock full of stories that any cinephile will enjoy. It is a well written book and hard to put down once you get going.

I can't recommend this book enough - if you know anyone in your life who loves movies (and/or Star Wars) buy them this book as a gift! You (and they) won't be disappointed!
6 people found this helpful
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Interesting Insights Into Unheralded Film Profession

This is a rare book that provides unique insights into Hollywood film making from the editor's perspective. The author was involved in a number of significant movies and goes into detail about the teamwork approach to the editing process. There were many things I had never heard before about the role of the editor, and Hirsch makes sure to give himself credit for a number of things the rest of us would assume another crew member would have done. He often helped in deciding the music track, re-recording dialogue, changing the script, and even giving fresh ideas to the director. I ended up concluding that it's the editor that has the most important job on any film.

Most readers will focus on the two Star Wars movies he edited but the bulk of the book involve other movies. Sometimes he spends too much time on things he loves but aren't that interesting. Then in the last part of the book he skips through later movies he worked on, often only mentioning them in a few paragraphs. He rushes through his most recent work in an unsatisfying way and tosses in a final chapter that states the obvious--technology is killing professional creativity.

There are a number of mistakes along the way, some factual errors and many broad subjective statements that are ill-informed.

Hirsch's problem is that he thinks himself to be an "artist" and has a know-it-all attitude about pretty much everything. While he calls himself a team player, in truth he is a bit of an elitist who looks down his nose as projects or material he doesn't care for, and he has no problem disagreeing with a director then slamming him many years later. When he suddenly starts failing to find work he wonders why no one will hire him, but the answer is in the writing of the book--he's kind of a jerk who thinks nothing of telling off some of the biggest names in movies. He throws many that he worked with under the bus, and also gives plenty of praise to those who treated him well. He says nothing bad about Tom Cruise, who still sends the author posh cakes as gifts.

Eventually Hirsch is fired from one film (the bomb Pluto Nash) but the last couple decades of his career brought him few great opportunities because of his attitude. It was too late--he had turned down chances at some huge hits because he thought he knew better than others. And stood up against producers too many times.

Overall the book adds a lot to the history of film and it should be required film school reading. While the text itself could have used some editing and the ending needs to be punched up, there are enough great stories and interesting background details make it worth reading even if you haven't seen all the movies he writes about.
5 people found this helpful
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Not just for Star Wars fans

Paul HIrsch, who has, in his long and stellar career, edited Star Wars, Carrie, Footloose, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, MIssion Impossible and Ray among other films has a lot to write about. Written in a breezy and fluid style, it is laid out chronologically as a memoir, but you can’t help but learn a lot about how movies are edited. I’m a movie fan and I just loved how you get exposed to the nuts and bolts of movie-making at the top. Along the way you will learn who are the good guys and the bad guys among the A-listers, and how one gets and maintains a Hollywood career. Although it’s not a tell-all, he pulls no punches and HIrsch is an open enough person to be self-critical as well. Chapters are really written as complete stories and were like eating candy- when I finished one I couldn’t resist going to another. Totally recommend this book.
4 people found this helpful
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One of the best books any editor will want to own

I first heard about this book when I listened to a podcast that interviews professional editors. Being a professional editor myself, I decided to buy Paul Hirsch's memoir about his editing career for a fellow editor friend last year, but always thought I'd like to own a copy myself. I purchased a copy and spent the next few months reading it in my free time. Boy what a great book! I've read a number of books about editing and editors in the film business, but this is far and away my favorite. Paul doesn't get bogged down in explaining the technical aspects of the craft, but rather spends most of the time telling highly interesting anecdotes about the many films he as edited in his career. His stories about working with particular directors and producers, and how he dealt with their varying personalities and quirks is fascinating. I work in the more mundane world of business aka "corporate" video, but so many of his stories about working on feature films are still very relatable. I highly recommend this book to anyone who works in the film and video business. A must-read for both aspiring and established editors out there.
3 people found this helpful
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A Great Read!

If you're looking for a book about how movies are made from the inside, then I cannot recommend "A Long Time Ago In A Cutting Room Far, Far Away" by Paul Hirsch, enough. Paul Hirsch writes about his fifty years in the film business with great humor, humility, love and respect for all of his experiences - Good and Bad. This book should be required reading for all aspiring film students, along with William Goldman's "Adventures In The Screen Trade" and Norman Hollyn's "The Editing Room Handbook".
3 people found this helpful
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Fascinating Read

Very interesting, nay, fascinating read! Consisting of a long introduction followed by 31 chapters and 350 pages, the author Paul Hirsch doesn't give us his back story until chapter 2. Growing up in the 1960's he loved going to the movies and after finishing college as an art history major he found his way into a friend's home editing room, watched him put together someone's indie film, and was hooked by all the tools and hands-on process of Hollywood post-production. Another friend offered him a job cutting a small B-film and from then on, Hirsch knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his professional life. Let the adventure begin!

This is what makes reading this book so neat, especially if you've seen the mega-hits like "Star Wars," "Footloose," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," the first "Mission Impossible" with Tom Cruise, just to name a few that Hirsch worked on. He takes us along on his journey, learning the ropes, the wisdom gained from failures and the sweet success when a film he helped work on won an award or gained a cult following later in life. The editor's job is more important than many people realize and after reading this book you'll never look at movies the same way again.

Some parts of the book do get a little slow. If you haven't actually seen the movie then reading about the post-production work that went into it might put some readers into a daze. He does a lot of name dropping of music composers and movie directors some common folk readers will probably not recognize but I was impressed by just how many movies this author worked on that I'd actually seen at least once, then promptly forgot! "I Love Trouble" was one of them.

As Hirsch tells the reader in his introduction, the tiniest change such as the insert of a single shot into a movie can totally alter everything about the story and even affect the rating of the film. As the title reveals, the best story this author tells is the one from his "Star Wars" gig. Hirsch describes working on the "Ben's Cave" scene. It was HIS idea to restructure the now-famous scene so our two heroes discover Leia's message in the MIDDLE instead of at the beginning as it was originally written in the script before they sidetrack to talk about the Clone Wars and introduce light sabers. Moving the most important plot point to another spot so the characters could react to it made it more believable. George Lucas agreed and the reader is left wondering where Hirsch was when Lucas was making those awful prequels *ducks flying trash from die-hard Star Wars fans*

Read this book and pass it on to everyone you know who loves movies. Learning about the movie making process is a blast thanks to Hirsch's ability to tell a good story, as all editors have to do if they want to keep their jobs!
2 people found this helpful
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A Must-Read for All Film Fans

This well-written, engrossing book traces the decades-long career of its author, film editor Paul Hirsch, who cut some of the most iconic films of all time, including STAR WARS and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Packed with recollections and stories about his work with directors like George Lucas, Brian DePalma, and John Hughes, it's full of stories and fascinating details that will appeal to film fans and film professionals alike.
1 people found this helpful
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insider account of how movies are made

Paul Hirsch is a film editor who has won an Oscar for film editing and writes about the movie industry from a perspective only an insider could have. One comes away with respect for the incredible attention to detail and wide cultural knowledge it takes to edit a movie. While not a lurid expose, he does reveal sides of well-known directors, producers, and actors that are largely unknown. Not all are laudatory; since he writes this late in his career I assume he's not worried about retribution from those painted unfavorably.

I was a bit disappointed he didn't explain more the almost 350 pages some specifics of how the editing process worked. While the equipment he spent most of his career using has largely been superseded by digital editing it still would have been nice to have some operations such as splicing or "cutting in" explained for the layman. Quite often he uses industry terms and you're just expected to know what it means.

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